This tried-and-true decision-making formula works brilliantly across many species, with or without language, allowing the group to think more carefully and deeply than any one individual would alone. Humans often do it in conference rooms, where everyone can see each other, physically place where they are relative to everyone else, and discern how people are reacting to one another. But what if the workgroup is all in different places? Videoconferencing may be a nice idea, but it removes the biologically-hardwired metaphor of shared space and group direction that underlies all successful consensus-building. Simply seeing faces onscreen is no help when you're missing the subtle, direction-based adjustments in people's posture, attention, and breathing that follow along with trajectory of the discourse, clueing everyone in to which direction people are leaning, whose arguments are holding sway, and who is losing ground.

SheepTool offers a better, more natural alternative to videoconferencing. At meeting time, everyone logs onto a shared virtual workspace and opens up a communal audio connection, the Bleatspace. At the same time, a round field is shown onscreen, and clustered in the middle are icons that represent each participant, consisting of nothing more than a circle with a name label, and two dots representing a pair of eyes. The matter currently under consideration is listed at the top, and different possible outcome decisions, defined in advance, are arrayed around the edges of the field, whether it's something as simple as Yes on the left and No on the right, or a longer list of possibilities-- industries, companies, individuals, budgets, calendar slots, proposals, etc. Initially, the simplified Sheepicons are arranged in org-chart order, with higher-ranking participants in the middle of the DecisionFlock cluster, and more junior members occupying the outskirts.

At the sound of the starting bell, participants begin the gradual process of bringing the DecisionFlock group to the edge of the virtual field, where the flock's position will correspond to one of the possible decision outcomes. In doing this, each participant has two tools at their disposal: their voices, carried and heard by everyone over the Bleatspace, and their pointing devices, which can nudge their associated Sheepicon bodies and eyes in any chosen direction. The Sheepicons are programmed to stick together, which automatically lessens the influence of any one participant's strong movements. Meanwhile, each Sheepicon's body movement exerts a force that nudges and draws neighboring Sheepicons along in their direction, with more power logically held by the icons located in the center of the flock.

Throughout the process, low-level random noise is generated in order to make the Sheepicon bodies wiggle slightly in all directions. The purpose of this is to loosen the connection somewhat between a users input and their icon's movement, thereby providing a certain level of anonymity and deniability regarding being swayed by the arguments and movements of others.

Notes: This would work nicely on a site such as Cointoss.com (idea #27).

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